Man pleads no contest to molesting child

BENNINGTON — A local man accused of molesting a child has pleaded no contest to an amended charge as his trial was about to begin.

Warren G. Lake, 61, of White Birches Park in Bennington, is scheduled to be sentenced in November.

Lake pleaded no contest in Vermont Superior Court Bennington Criminal Division on Aug. 1 to a felony count of lewd and lascivious conduct. Judge David A. Howard ordered the Department of Corrections to conduct a pre-sentence investigation. Lake's sentencing is scheduled for Nov. 2.

The charge caries a maximum penalty of up to five years in prison.

Under a plea agreement with prosecutors, when Lake is sentenced, the court will dismiss single felony counts of lewd and lascivious conduct with a child, repeated aggravated sexual assault, and repeated aggravated sexual assault on a child.

A three-day jury trial had previously been scheduled for Tuesday to Thursday.

Lake was charged after an 18-year-old woman told Vermont State Police last February that Lake sexually assaulted her a number of times when she was a child.

Lake has been detained at the Marble Valley Regional Correctional Facility in Rutland since his Feb. 4, 2016 arraignment. Judge Howard, at a weight of evidence hearing last April, granted the state's request that Lake be held without bail.

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